Had to break down and call a plumber

[Spiffy]

I stand/sit before you a broken man. There was a tee connector that had a tiny hairline crack. Had been leaking for a while but just a drop here and there and I thought it was the shower drain. Well 3 times I fixed it and 3 times either the left or right coupler popped off under pressure. 2 trips to Co-Op, 1 trip to Lowe's, and 1 trip to Home Depot and still not fixed. I told Mom I'm throwing in the towel and calling the plumber. 

Everything is at least 20 years old combo of PVC and CPVC. Not going to do the WHOLE house but 95% of it in pex. We have 3 different water sources and I'm not messing with that because it's over my reloading table. He's gonna be here tomorrow afternoon to figure out what he needs. I know I could do it myself with a few youtube videos and getting the right "tool" but I don't really want to fool with it after the day and a half I've had. I'll just squat to pee from now on. 

[Garufa]

Don’t feel too bad.  I take great pleasure and pride in fixing stuff around the house and have probably saved thousands doing so.

But sometimes you just have to call the man like I did a couple of years ago to replace the pressure regulator… out of my depth and patience.

[Scotty]

Peace of mind comes with a price. I hate working on cars. Could I do the timing chain on my 4Runner, I’m sure I could. Do I want to think about it for 2 months straight every time I turn the key hoping I torqued everything to the right spec someone on the Internet tells me? Nah, I like that truck too much to worry about my own shortcomings.  
 

You’re smart enough to know what you don’t know. I had a yard hydrant leak underground on me to the tune of a $200 water bill. Panicked and called and the guy showed and quoted me $900. He said his price was high and to shop around. I ended up digging the trench, shutting the water on and off myself, buying the parts and having someone show up with a couple pipe wrenches who charged me the minimum $99 service charge because I made it easy for him. Was the cost of not having the tools but worth the peace of mind.  

[leroy]

Brother Spiffy...

I feel your pain Brother...  I usta could do everything.  Now I can do nothing, and don't try... SIGH.  

The years have taken their toll...

Sad leroy... The " non fixit person...

[Johnny Rotten]

 

 

[jeremiah]

I consider myself a decent plumber for the home.

However, as I age, it sure feels good to make a phone call, point to an issue, get it done.

I redid my home in 3/4" hardwood floors.

Tore a bicep tendon in the process.

Would have been better to pay someone to do the install.

I would have saved lots of pain and money.

[Spiffy]

12 minutes ago, Johnny Rotten said:

 

 

I'm squatting to pee for sure.

 

Mom kept saying "we could call a plumber" after the 2nd blow off. I said most don't wanna mess with PVC anymore and they wouldn't do anything or know anything I don't know or have done. At this point I'm just going with the pipes are old and not wanting to seal good with the cement. 

At least I can watch him and figure out what tools and stuff I'll need to keep on hand to fix any little issue that arises. 

 

Now go buy the stuff I got on the classifieds so I can pay the plumber and still get my trapper when they come in stock!! LOL

[DWARREN123]

Actually, getting an expert to do it is smart!

[NoBanStan]

I can do drainage, toilets, etc but I don't do anything under the house. I'm sure I could, but I don't want to mess with cutting, sweating, fitting, whatever. I will gladly pay for that lack of headache.

[MacGyver]

FWIW, if the part that failed is CPVC, save yourself the headache and replace as much of it as you can with PEX now.  I recently replaced plumbing in a place with CPVC. It seems like once the environmental/age conditions are met for that stuff to start failing it fails all over.  I bet in the stuff we replaced because of one problem that was visible - we discovered ten that weren’t.

CPVC is the devil. A brittle devil - but a devil nonetheless. 

[gun sane]

If the job requires something beyond my education or physical ability, I call a guy with a sign on his truck.  I may live to be 100 if the money holds out.

[pop pop]

I called a plumber a couple months ago. I have 2 toilets shut off valves that no longer shut the water off completely. I have 4 toilets. I also had a toilet refill valve inside the toilet that cut off valve wouldn't shut it off completely, that needed to be replaced. We are talking 1-2 hrs labor at most. The guy came and I told him what I needed, and he said he would give me an estimate. Came back and said 1180.00 for the work. I said what do I owe you for the service call now, because I am not going to pay that. Long story short he called his boss, and they dropped it to 850.00 because I have been a customer for 40 years with them. I paid the service call and my grandson replaced all 4 of the cut off valves, and I got down and took me 10 minutes to change the flush valve myself. Cost me 50,00 for parts and took a total of 35 minutes for him and me 10 minutes. Hope you have better luck than I did Scotty.  

My water system is in copper pipes. I put it in myself 40 years ago. Old age has caught up with me also, but I got humbled with this experience.  Will be calling on son-in-law and grandboys for these things from now on. I don't want to pay those kinds of prices. 

[Spiffy]

4 hours ago, MacGyver said:

FWIW, if the part that failed is CPVC, save yourself the headache and replace as much of it as you can with PEX now.  I recently replaced plumbing in a place with CPVC. It seems like once the environmental/age conditions are met for that stuff to start failing it fails all over.  I bet in the stuff we replaced because of one problem that was visible - we discovered ten that weren’t.

CPVC is the devil. A brittle devil - but a devil nonetheless. 

That's what I'm thinking is the problem just old pipe and doesn't want to hold with the cement.  Gonna re-do pretty much everything in pex and if I have issues with the incoming water lines do that is pex as it goes. Don't want to move my reloading benches unless I have to.

[gregintenn]

Here’s my thought process when something breaks…

I can fix it.

I can probably fix it.

Can I really fix it?

How much can I save by fixing it?

How much can I screw up by attempting to fix it?

Is me fixing it going to require a trip to the emergency room?

 

By answering these questions, I can determine whether I need to call a professional. I usually make the right decision…sometimes.

[MacGyver]

There are only 5 rules to plumbing - but I’ve added a 6th to my personal rules.

If I have to break a piece of pipe to fix something a 1/4 ball valve is going inline. You cannot have too many shutoff valves. 

[gregintenn]

19 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

There are only 5 rules to plumbing - but I’ve added a 6th to my personal rules.

If I have to break a piece of pipe to fix something a 1/4 ball valve is going inline. You cannot have too many shutoff valves. 

I only know four…

Chit rolls downhill.

Hot water on the left.

Don’t bite your fingernails.

Payday’s on Friday.

 

[MacGyver]

1. Hot goes on the left

2. Sh#^ can only go down hill

3. The boss is a son of a bitch

4. Payday is on Friday

5. Never eat the last bite of your sandwich

[Spiffy]

Well the plumber called and got into "worse trouble" on a job. We all know how that is! He said he couldn't come today but is coming tomorrow. I decided to give it one last try and while I was letting the primer dry on the ends I cut decided to just omit the shower. I guess whatever stress the shower supply line was causing is what caused the failures. It's on and working now just can't take a shower. Good thing I got those 3 dozen wash clothes from Amazon that time! 

Still gonna let him redo it all in plex. The water into the house is metal pipe through the wall it looked like. I'd have to move the workbench and everything to get to it but I could pull it out from the wall and see a little. Gonna leave that as is and just let him tie in after it passes under the main floor beam. That way everything is on the same side and he can make a day of it in the warm basement instead of outside or under a house.

[peejman]

5 hours ago, MacGyver said:

There are only 5 rules to plumbing - but I’ve added a 6th to my personal rules.

If I have to break a piece of pipe to fix something a 1/4 ball valve is going inline. You cannot have too many shutoff valves. 

Along this idea.... If you're redoing everything in pex, do it in a manifold style system.  That way all the shut-off valves for both hot and cold lines are together, and you can isolate things so you don't have to shut off water to the whole house to fix 1 minor thing. 

[slickrick0999]

On 12/28/2023 at 6:28 PM, Johnny Rotten said:

 

 

Oh man that made me laugh out loud!

Several years ago I had a friend at work that was a little older and much wiser than myself.  He had a saying..

"Real men don't call plumbers "

I subscribed to this at the time.  I learned much from this friend and others and then YouTube. 

But, let me tell you....

The stories we would come in with about how we had to fix something and wrong it went before it went right and how many trips to the part store and how filthy we got....

Priceless comedy! 

[Luckyforward]

This discussion takes em back to my Dad.  I grew up in North Chattanooga in the 60s in a house that had been built in 1919. so you know the age of everything in the "bones" of the house.  OLD!  The plumbing would go out regularly, but Dad thought he could fix it all, and we would go through days and weeks of trial and error.  Fix the pipe, everything works for awhile, until it stops.  Turn the water off at the street (after filling up 5 gallon buckets) and Dad would start working on it again in a few days (usually when the buckets of water gave out).  Rinse and repeat - everything works for awhile until it stops, fill the buckets, turn the water off at the street.  UNTIL my Mom goes ballistic and makes Dad call the plumber.

I miss those days, and I miss my Mom and Dad . . .